Padfoot's Erised
by DragonsDaughter27
Summary: This is my first fanfic me and my friend wrote it, it's about James, Lily and Sirius at school together and how complicated young love can be, hope you all like! Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1 Unexpected Friend

**This is not how we thought it should have gone, because we think that the story is perfect in every way. But it is a "what if?" and we're just trying to make a background story for Sirius.**

Lily stared at her desk, but it remained stubbornly a desk. She gathered all the strength she could muster and shouted the non-verbal spell in her head, but still nothing happened. She looked shiftily over her shoulder, trying to see if anyone had noticed her repeated failures; as she did so, she couldn't help noticing how many desks had transformed into pigs already.

"Having trouble?" said a crisp voice from her right. Lily started and turned around sheepishly to see Professor McGonagoll staring pointedly at her desk.

"…Yes."

"Black! Assist Evans!" Called Professor Mcgonagoll and Lily felt her cheeks burn with shame. Across the room, a boy heaved himself from his chair, and with a casual wave from his wand, transformed his squealing pig back to its original form. Then he slouched across the room towards her, the very picture of boredom. She recognised his face with mixed feelings as he sauntered over. It brought back memories of misery, Snape shouting "Mudblood!" and a person to talk to by the fire that night. Lily remembered that he had been so sensitive and nice to her, and yet they had never spoken after that night. Why was that? Lily tried to remember as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Show me what you've got."

Desperate to retain some of her pride, Lily again shouted the spell inside her head and attempted the wildly tricky wand movement. The desk reluctantly sprouted some ears and a tail that curled feebly. Crestfallen, Lily lowered her wand.

"Well, you're a charmer!" said Black, grinning arrogantly, sweeping his long dark hair out of his face; Lily tried not to notice that it happened to be casually handsome.

"Excuse me?" she said, rather more stiffly than she had intended.

"No-I just- I meant –"he said, obviously feeling stupid. "Your wand movement... it looks like you'd be much better at charms than this."

"Oh," said Lilly. "I am." There was an awkward silence while Lily regarded him suspiciously.

"You're flourishing your wand too much. That's why I knew you were good at charms," he explained. "You have to keep it pointed at the object, and make your movements sharper."

"Ok," shrugged Lily, and she raised her wand once more. This time, the desk turned a pale shade of pink and the edges smoothed, resembling the fat belly of a pig. The legs suddenly had trotters and there was something vaguely similar to a head.

"There you go!" said Black, looking pleased. Lily beamed at him, her gratitude overshadowing some of her less pleasant feelings. "Thank you so much!" she said, satisfied that Professor McGonagoll had happened to be been watching. "How come you're so good? You don't need a teacher."

Black hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then said, "James. He tutors me sometimes." He paused. "He's really good. He teaches me loads of advanced stuff." Lily didn't really want to hear about James Potter, but she felt the need to be polite and said "Oh, how nice of him."

"Yeah," he said, looking at her shrewdly now. "He could tutor you too sometime if you wanted."

"Oh..." Lily wanted nothing less than to be bossed about by Potter, but she felt rude to decline. "Well, maybe not... I have a lot on, and I don't really know him that well..."

Black was quiet for a moment, then said, "How about me? I could pass on what James teaches me. He is quite busy as well, but I have loads of free time." This idea was much more appealing to Lily. She did need some extra help with Transfiguration and her N.E. were drawing closer.

"That might be more convenient," she said, trying to sound as if the only reason that she had declined James was her schedule. "If you wanted, I could give you some help with Charms if you want. No offense-"

"I know. I'm terrible!" Black gave an odd, barking laugh.

"Not really," Lily lied, trying to spare his feelings. He raised his eyebrows but didn't comment.

Under the guidance of Black, the lesson became much easier and Lily found herself almost enjoying it. She felt as if her work burden had lightened, now that she didn't have to practise Transfiguration on top of all her other homework.

As they were packing away at the end of the lesson, Black turned to Lily and said, "So, on Thursday I have a free period after lunch. Are you free then?"

"Yes."

"See you in the dormitory then." Black smiled and then swaggered away. Lily left for Potions, joyous with her success, with a feeling that she had made an unexpected friend.

**So what did you think? Please leave a review, this is my first fanfic so nothing too mean ;) **


	2. Chapter 2 Ditched

**Lily**

Lily frowned as she reached a particularly tricky question on her potions homework. It was the last one and the sheet had only taken a few minutes, her personal record (although it was very easy this week). Professor Slughorn had always had a soft spot for Lily, and as she had produced a perfect batch of Veritaserum, he had given the class much less homework than usual.

Lily paused and glanced at the clock in the deserted dormitory. Black had said that he would tutor her today in their free period and help her with Transfiguration, which Lily was particularly satisfied about, but she was still waiting. _It's only been 7 minutes,_ she thought, and comforted herself with the thought that Black was probably the opposite end of the castle and was making his way there right that minute.

However, when Lily's eyes flicked to the door as it opened, she saw not Sirius Black but his best friend, James Potter. Lily felt her stomach tighten in dislike. She had never got on with Potter, who seemed to plan his daily routine so that they would cross paths as often as possible, and was constantly asking her on a date_. How many times do I have to turn him down?_ thought Lily, because even though she didn't like him she always felt vaguely guilty as his eyes registered his hurt. There was also his boasting and arrogant manner to contend with.

She watched impassively as he looked around the common room and, spotting her, he made his way over. To her surprise, her dropped his books on the table and pulled up a chair, smiling his trademark arrogant grin. "Hey Evans."

"What?" Lily didn't want to seem too hostile, but at the same time she made no effort to mask her distaste at his presence. He noticed, and smiled ruefully before answering.

"Malfoy gave Sirius a detention, so he asked me to fill in for him," he said and then looked at her smugly. "Of course, I'm far better than Sirius, so really, you're getting a lucky break."

Lily scowled at him, but when he remained oblivious, gave up and said, "I was hoping to work on mammals, as they're the things I have most trouble with."

"Object to animal, or animal to object?" He asked.

"Object to animal," said Lily in the bossiest voice she could manage; she felt that if she could make Potter as uncomfortable as possible then this lesson wouldn't be a waste of time after all.

"Before we start, Sirius asked me to get you to write down a list of stuff that you can and can't do," Potter winked at Lily. "Of course, I'll probably have you doing everything by the end of the lesson, so it's kind of pointless." He passed Lily a sheet of parchment, which she snatched as viciously as she could, but he didn't seem to notice as he was too busy sweeping all her homework off the table and onto the floor to make room for his own bag. The books lay in a mess on the floor and her spare parchment spilled out across the floor. With a rush of anger, Lily saw her favorite book lying face down on the floor, all of the pages scrunched up beneath it.

"You idiot!" shouted Lily, standing up abruptly. "You've bent all the pages!" Potter started and hurriedly scrambled to pick up all the books while Lily watched in disgust.

"Sorry, sorry!" He seemed almost sulky, which infuriated Lily further. She bent over the parchment and began to scribble a list, venting her feelings by scratching the paper as hard as she could with the quill. _He's probably going to try to interest me with a _fascinatingly_ detailed description of his last Quidditch match next_, she thought sourly. She watched him suspiciously out of the corner of her eye, noting the way his eyes studied her face.

"You have such nice eyes."

Lily wondered if this was his idea of a chat up line. "Thanks," she said shortly, trying to discourage him from continuing.

"And beautiful hair," he said, reaching up to run his hand over it. Lily jerked her head back, brushing her hair away from him protectively.

"What do you want, Potter?" He lowered his hand and took a deep breath.

"Evans…I was just wondering…you know, if you wanted to go-"

"No, I don't!" snapped Lily impatiently; she had predicted where this was going and had a retort ready, just waiting to be used. "How many times do I have to tell you, Potter? I don't want to go out with you! It's time you accepted the fact that you aren't every girl's _dream man_, you can't just go around expect that every girl would _adore_ to be your girlfriend, we don't all _fall _at your feet to worship you, you know! You have made me plenty of offers, if I wanted to go out with you, I would just ask if the offer was still standing!" Lily enjoyed her verbal beating of Potter as much as she would have a physical one. There was an uncomfortable pause and he cleared his throat.

"Ok, I was just asking. You know, just in case you changed your mind." He smiled roguishly again.

The lesson was terrible. As Black had said, Potter was brilliant at Transfiguration, but he annoyed Lily all lesson with arrogant remarks and attempts to attract her, and generally belittled her so she felt like a complete failure at the end of the lesson. Black turned up just as the bell sounded, signaling the end of a period. He sauntered over and asked "How did it go, Evans?"

"Very good, thanks," said Lily stiffly. Black didn't seemed to notice her mood. "How was detention?"

Sirius seemed momentarily bewildered and the, with a quick glance at James, grimaced. "Ugh, Malfoy is such an idiot. Made me toilet-train the Flobberworms."

"You poor thing," said Lily insincerely, thinking that it could have been a lot worse. "I have Charms next."

Me too," grinned Sirius. "I'm in your class. I'm the awful one than needs tutoring by the great Lily Evans." Lily forced a laughed and then turned reluctantly to Potter.

"Nah, I've got Care of Magical Creatures with that old hag Kettle."

"She's not that bad!" snapped Lily, and walked over the portrait as fast as she could with the two boys trailing behind her. "Well, see you soon."

"Bye Evans!" called James cheerily, ruffling his hair up and smiling at her lazily.

"Goodbye Potter. _Come on_, Black."

"Call me James –"

"Call me Sirius –"

They both started at the same time. "Oh," said Lily, feeling pleased and annoyed. This was the big milestone in friendships at Hogwarts, getting each other to call people by their first names. "Well then, call me Lily," she said to Sirius. She extended her hand to him, but James jumped in first, clasping her hand eagerly.

"Hi Lily," he said. Lily just stared at him, and then shook her hand free and turned to Sirius.

"Hi Lily," said Sirius, grinning broadly.

"Hi Sirius," she said back, smiling as widely as she could and feeling a vindictive satisfaction at the hurt on James' face. She had just turned away to walk down the corridor with Sirius to Charms when James called her back.

"Hey, Evans," he smiled his usual, arrogant smile. "So, we're meeting outside the Entrance Hall on Valentine's day, right? To go to Hogsmeade together." She tried to flounce off, but James caught her arm. She felt her heart jump at the contact as James pulled her back round to face him. "Lily. Please." His eyes were large and pleading. She felt the combined stress of everything from the lesson ball up painfully in her throat and snarled at him.

"Let go of me! Don't ever touch me again!" she said angrily, then ripped her arm from his grip and stormed off.


	3. Chapter 3 Tutoring Prongs

**Sirius**

Lily gave James a withering look and stalked off. Sirius exchanged a panicky glance with James and then hurried off down the corridor after her.

"Lily! Wait! Hey, Lily!"

She relented and stopped so that he could catch up with her, then she resumed her furious pace. Sirius had to jog to keep up.

"What's the matter? I thought-"

"What's the matter? _What's the matter?_" Lily laughed angrily. "Only the fact that James Potter is the stupidest, most annoying little boy in the whole of Hogwarts and won't leave me alone for more than a minute! And _you_!"

She swung around and pointed at Sirius accusingly. He got a face-full of her coppery hair and, despite his perilous situation, couldn't help noticing that it smelt of fresh cinnamon and vanilla.

"You dumped me!" She was nearly shouting. "You left me to that _prick_ and you promised that you were going to tutor me!"

Sirius stepped backwards a couple of paces. "I was in detention!" he said desperately.

"So you couldn't stay out of trouble for _one day_?" She looked disappointed, shaking her head, which was even worse. Sirius felt guilty for having pulled such a low trick on her. He felt like owning up but eyed her fierce expression and decided that now was not the time.

"I'm really sorry. I thought that it would be nice." Sirius was shocked when her fury crumpled and put her face in her hands. "No-please don't be upset- I didn't mean to upset you..." Sirius was never very tactile or sensitive so he ended up patting her back awkwardly.

"It wasn't nice!" she said, rubbing her face tiredly with her hands. "I just can't _deal_ with him. This is really important to me. I thought you knew that." She removed her hands and stared at him, stony-faced. "You should have cancelled the session. You know that I hate James Potter, so I don't expect him to show his face for our tutoring time again." She started walking again. Sirius just nodded and fell into step with her.

"Sorry." He said quietly, and relaxed when her emerald eyes flitted to him and she smiled, her cheeks still pink from her outburst. "We can do a session tomorrow. I have a free period in the morning," he said hopefully, but she shook her head.

"Maybe after dinner, I'm so busy tomorrow," she said, and Sirius nodded. "And I could do a Charms session on Friday?"

"That would be amazing!" said Sirius, wishing it were tomorrow already.

The more Sirius thought about James' failure, the angrier he got. _Why couldn't he just be nice to her?_ He dared to make a rude hand gesture at Peeves and paid dearly when Peeves chased him down the corridor, pelting him with chalk.

He met James, Remus and Peter in the Gryffindor common room that evening, still frustrated with James and the fact that everything had somehow gone wrong.

"Well done, Prongs," said Sirius sarcastically, as he walked over to where the other Marauders were sitting. "One chance and you blew it."

"I know!" moaned James, as Remus patted him on the back and Peter stared at him avidly.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Remus quietly after a long pause.

"Slit my wrists?"

Peter giggled, and when James glared at him, quickly said, "Just go back and play it cool."

Sirius looked at Peter in mock surprise. "For once, you've actually got it right! Prongs, you need to act as if you don't care. Act like you're not interested. Act normal."

"You would know, Padfoot!" said James, grinning half-heartedly, as Sirius was known all over the school for his uncanny knack with girls.

"Be nice to her. Be honest and humble. We know from... ahem..._past experience_ that Lily hates bragging," said Remus delicately. Sirius nodded vigorously in approval to mask the fact that he was trying to hide his laughter as he remembered Lily shouting at a rapidly deflating James.

"Take your snitch in!" cried Peter excitedly. "Do that catching thing with it, you're amazing!" At this, Sirius stopped nodding and shook his head in disgust at Peter's idiocy.

"Shut up, Wormtail!" snapped Sirius. "Just because it works on you doesn't mean that Lily will like it!" Peter turned an admirable shade of scarlet and clamped his lips together as James roared with laughter.

"She has a really infectious smile, so don't smile back. Act really cool and unfazed," Sirius advised, thinking of the white gleam of her teeth and how he had automatically beamed back.

"But you need to be _nice_," pressed Remus anxiously. "I really think she hates you."

"Thanks, Moony," said James sourly.

"I'm just trying to help. I think she would respond better to a modest, humble version of you than the arrogant, overconfident version," said Remus.

"But don't go overboard on the niceness!" said Sirius, scowling at Remus, irritated_. He just didn't understand how important it was to get the girl to come to you_, thought Sirius. "She'll think that you're sucking up." Peter listened with rapt attention, his face shining with glee. "But maybe pay her a compliment," added Sirius. He tried to remember his various dates with different girls, and he had a vague sense that they always liked him more when he commented on their hair or their clothes. He also remember that they listened in awe as he described his Quidditch matches as he filled in for Chaser, although he knew it would be a mistake to mention this to James; Lily hated James showing off about his Quidditch talent.

"Already tried it," said James miserably.

"And?" asked Remus.

"Rejected. Instantly!" James made and despairing gesture. "Why am I always so stupid when she's around?"

"Just don't make it obvious that you like her," said Sirius bluntly, as Peter nodded eagerly. He sat down heavily to spend the rest of his free period coaching James on how to act in front of Lily.


	4. Chapter 4 Falling for Evans

**Sirius**

Sirius and Lily had a few lessons over the weeks and came to be close friends. Sirius found that Lily was full of light and wisdom as well as being one of the few people who honestly laughed at his jokes and had proper conversations with him. She wasn't one of those ditzy air-heads who fluttered their lashes and didn't really listen to him. She was hard-working and talented and had a mind of her own. She didn't just agree with whatever he said, they had lengthy debates that revealed her passion and morals. She was sensitive and sweet, the very picture of goodness and maybe the only sincerely _nice_ person that Sirius had met. She was, quite simply, beautiful, inside and out.

Sirius came to realise that maybe he didn't see Lily as just a friend. He felt shy and awkward at every start of the lesson, but within ten minutes she had him doing everything he could think of just to see that smile break across her face, like sunlight through a cloud. He scanned every crowd for that copper hair and fought through anything to reach it. He deliberately made a mess of his spells in Charms just to see her wonderful eyes study his movements as he attempted the charm again. He even shielded her from Peeves as they pelted down the corridor and had the ink stains all over his face for weeks to prove it.

"So..."

Lily's sparkling green eyes flitted up from a recipe for a Hiccoughing Solution and fixed onto Sirius's. He hesitated, not wanting to disrupt the peaceful lull in their conversation, and was reminded of the disastrous first attempt to properly introduce James and Lily. But Lily was already raising her eyebrows questioningly, and he didn't want to leave James hanging for any longer.

"So I can't make the tutoring session on Tuesday."

Lily's forehead creased as she studied his face.

"OK?" It was no big deal. They had both already had to cancel on each other due to their packed schedules and oppressive heaps of homework, and Lily knew that Sirius had more to say. He had to wait a long time to organise his next sentence carefully; it wasn't helped by the fact that Lily smiled encouragingly which sent his stomach cartwheeling and his pulse soaring.

"I was thinking that you might give James another chance to do a session with you"- Lily's face immediately closed off and she opened her mouth to argue back, but Sirius talked rapidly in an attempt to bring her round – "Look, he promises not to annoy you or pester-"

"You asked _him_ before _me_?"

"- And I want you to cover reptiles again-"

"I don't need James Potter covering something I've already done!"

" – Please, Lily, your N.E. are coming up so soon - "

"What are you trying to say about my Transfiguration?"

"Lily! Please! I just think you could use some extra time! I'm not saying this to be nasty about your Transfiguration - I'm just trying to help."

Lily stared at Sirius, and he started to fidget as seconds went by; he felt vulnerable under her scrutiny.

"Ok."


	5. Chapter 5 Mutual Understanding

**Lily**

Lily breathed deeply in an attempt to and stared at the common room door. Unfortunately, it was not a normal muggle door, so the Fat Lady in the picture sighed in annoyance and said "Well, are you going to give me the password or not?" It was loud enough for James to hear in the deserted common room, so as just as Lily was about to utter the password the door swung open to reveal a shy smile and a mop of black hair – carefully smoothed flat.

"Hey," he said nervously, holding the door open politely for her. He followed her over to her favourite studying spot and stood awkwardly as she sat down and got out her books, expecting a non-practical lesson as Sirius had moved on to Transfigurational theory. But she had assumed wrongly; James pulled out his wand and with a flick, moved all of the furniture to the edge of the room.

"I thought we could do a practical lesson. On reptiles," he said, looking pleased that he had remembered. "Non-verbal," he added.

Lily considered him for a moment, and then smiled while drawing her own wand. "Good idea." He looked relieved and began to teach.

Half an hour into the lesson, and Lily could sense that something was amiss with James. Her thoughts kept returning to the same thread, following it with an unusual intensity and distracting her from her spell casting. He was being so nice to her, so kind and patient and modest. And he wasn't pestering her as he would usually which disconcerted Lily the most. Finally, she decided to just ask him.

"Why aren't you asking me out?" she blurted out, feeling confused and somewhat rejected by this lack of attention from James. He stopped dead in mid-explanation and looked at her in alarm, his eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Well-well-I mean, d'you want me to?" He spluttered when he found his voice, sounding almost panicky.

"No!" said Lily automatically, feeling embarrassed and even more so when he flushed and dropped his eyes to the floor. "I mean, no, but why?"

"Well... I just thought that you could use a break. I know that I'm annoying sometimes and, well, Sirius said you were quite upset after our last lesson. He gave me a right old bollocking," he half-smiled and caught her eye. Lily's thoughts flashed distractedly to Sirius, wondering what he had said to James to make him be this nice to her.

"I never meant to, you know," he said. "Upset you, I mean." Lily stared at him, unsure of what to say. He broke eye contact again and focussed on his shoe, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"Well... I never meant to make you feel...rejected. Like you were annoying me," said Lily, feeling inexplicably shameful of herself. "...You kind of _were_, but that wasn't the reason why I said no."

There was a pregnant pause, and then James asked quietly, "Then what was it?"

Lily weighed her options carefully in her head, and then cast away the result regardless of the consequences. She slumped down on an armchair behind her and motioned for James to do the same. He perched gingerly on the edge of a stool and leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs.

"It was just the fact that you thought you were better sometimes."

"Than...Snape?"

"Mostly. I just felt that it was all a big show. You weren't real, and we would never be good enough for you."

"I wasn't _real_? What part of me wasn't _real _enough?" He sounded almost irritated, so Lily responded with more aggression than she would have liked.

"Putting on a massive show for every girl that walked past, high-fiving your friends when you failed tests, ruffling up your _bloody_ hair, and taunting people in front of an audience just to make yourself look good!" James was stunned into silence for a moment. "If I was such an idiot then why did you think _you_ weren't good enough for _me_?"

"Well, let's face it, if we'd been going out then everyone would have expected me to be some ditzy air-head!"

"_Well,_ now that we're head boy and girl we should be the perfect match," he said sarcastically. Lily smiled back, matching his sarcasm, and rose to leave, swinging her bag over her shoulder. James reached to catch her hand but snatched it back at the last second.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that!" he pleaded and Lily paused to listen, against her better judgment. "I just don't know how to act around you. It's never been the fact that you're not good enough for me."

Lily turned around, furious with herself when she felt a lump forming in her throat. "Then what is it? To be honest I don't know when we ended hating each other-"

"I never hated you," James corrected her. "And it was mostly 'cause I hexed Sniv-..._Severus_... on the first day." He smirked at the memory.

"Well, we have to be loyal to our friends," Lily said icily.

"Was that why it was always a no?" James asked desperately, his brown eyes meeting her green. She wondered why she'd never noticed the colour. Dark and rich on the outside, but streaked with a golden swirl within.

"Loyalty? Yes," she said softly. "It became a habit." James stood up and stepped closer to her. Her heart jumped to her throat, and despite herself, she had to catch her breath. Without intending to, she said, "It wasn't something I stopped to think twice about."

James smiled, daring to look hopeful. "Care to tell me what would've happened if you had thought twice?"

Lily shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I never did." There was a long silence while they studied each other, both trying to understand the last few minutes.

Lily broke it. "Why me? You never gave up; never wanted anyone else. Why?"

James just looked at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because I liked you. A lot. And I still do, Lily. You were the most beautiful, clever, kind person in the whole of Hogwarts and every time you were near I ended up making a right tit out of myself and pushing you away even further."

"So out of the whole school of girls, I was the only one you ever noticed?"

"You were the only one I've ever actually liked," said James, and Lily snorted in disbelief.

"Of course."

"I'm serious! I'm actually, honest-to-God not even joking! I can't believe that I'm actually telling you all of this and you think that I'm lying!"

Lily backtracked. "I don't think you're lying-"

"Well, then you're laughing at me for telling you the truth about how I feel, which is even worse!" Lily looked in surprise at his pained expression. "Lily, for these last seven years, you have been the one constant person that I look out for every single day. I can't help it. I know you hate me and that I really annoy me and I try not to, I really do."

"I don't hate you James!" said Lily, feeling choked up at his confession. "I bet you're a nice guy really, but... I've just rarely seen this side of you."

James sat back down heavily, looking utterly miserable. Lily joined him and clasped one of his hands spontaneously between hers. They sat like that as the minutes ticked by.

"This is the last time I'll ever ask you. I promise," said James quietly, startling Lily out over her reverie. "I just want to know if it's ever going to happen. I've waited so many years, hoping... But if you can't see this happening then I promise I will leave you alone. I just need to know... would you go out with me?"

Lily stared at him, her mind absolutely blank. Just then, Sirius sung through the Common room door and lolloped over to them, chucking his bag on the table and breaking the contact between Lily and James. Lily's hands fell uselessly to her sides.

"Hey guys!" said Sirius cheerfully, oblivious to the tension in the room. "Potions next! C'mon James! You're going to Defence Against the Dark Arts next, right lily?"

Lily responded distractedly, her eyes on James. "Yeah, cool. Let's go." She desperately tried to make eye contact with James, to see what he was thinking, but he avoided her eyes on purpose - the corners of his mouth turned down painfully and his shoulders hunched in defeat. Lily felt completely torn as he turned away. Conflicting emotions rose in her; they struggled against each other, each as powerful as the next. She felt a primal panic constricting around her heart. The pressure to make a decision made her even more indecisive, so she dithered uselessly. He walked quickly over to the door without saying a word. Sirius threw a concerned glance at Lily, but she didn't bother returning it as her feet were suddenly whisking her body away from him and after James, who was climbing out of the Common Room entrance.

"James! Hey!"

He turned to look at her as Sirius jogged up behind them; it seemed to cost all the effort he had. Lily bit her lip, pushing herself to take this leap of faith, and then thought_, Oh, what the hell!_

"So I'm meeting you in the Entrance Hall, right? For Hogsmeade next week?"

James' face split into a delighted grin and he even laughed out loud. "Yeah. That would be...amazing."

Lily smiled one last time at James, and then shrugged off the doorframes and walked along the corridor for her next lesson. She felt as if she could reach the sky, with the combined relief of making a decision and giddiness of her daring.

She was so elated that she didn't notice the stony expression on Sirius' face as she walked off.


End file.
